Palestinian factions call for third 'Friday of Rage' in continued protest against Trump

Dec. 22, 2017 12:47 P.M. (Updated: Dec. 23, 2017 3:28 P.M.)

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Palestinian political factions called upon Palestinians to take part in the third ‘Friday of Rage’ protests in rejection of the US President Donald Trump’s widely condemned policies in the region.

Since the announcement, Palestinians have protested nearly every day against Trump and the Israeli occupation in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza. Six Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in protests , while hundreds more have been injured.

As of Friday morning, Israeli forces has increased their presence at the entrances of towns and cities across the West Bank where protests tend to take place.

Despite the UN General Assembly’s adoption on Thursday of a resolution rejecting Trump’s decision, Palestinians have vowed to continue protesting.

Palestinian and Arab leaders warned Trump of causing instability and unrest in the region, with protests already being reported in cities across the West Bank and Jordan in response to the decision.

Despite repeatedly making the promise to move the embassy throughout his presidential campaign, in June, Trump signed a temporary order to keep the US embassy in Tel Aviv, a renewable six-month waiver that has been signed by every US President for the past two decades.

The move is being regarded as the first step to a drastic abdication of longstanding US policy that has largely adhered to international standards on Israel-Palestine, which maintains that East Jerusalem is an intricate part of occupied Palestinian territory and the capital of any future Palestinian state, despite Israel’s annexation of the territory.

The fate of Jerusalem has been a focal point of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades, with numerous tensions arising over Israeli threats regarding the status of non-Jewish religious sites in the city, and the "Judaization" of East Jerusalem through settlement construction and mass demolitions of Palestinian homes.